Tag: Rich Attonito

Our beloved TUF 11 guest blogger wraps up last week’s jam-packed episode, and explains why things got so heated between house heel Jamie Yager and the rest of the fighters. Rich and Jamie will throw down this Saturday at the TUF 11 Finale. Tune in and show your support!

Last week everyone was treated to the final episode of The Ultimate Fighter with certainly no shortage of drama. But first we got a visit from some guys who know how to handle drama the right way, the Marine Corps. My grandfather was in the Marines. Several of my uncles also served in the Armed Forces as well. So it was great when Dana surprised us with a visit from these guys.

We got a chance to see and learn some very cool tactical techniques they use for disarming people with weapons. They were so efficient at it, they made it look easy. After we got to train together they came over for a BBQ. We got a chance to interact with them on a more personal level and it was definitely fun to meet these guys and hear their stories. I have the utmost respect for the men and women of our country who sacrifice so much for our personal freedoms. I made sure I took the chance to express my gratitude to them.

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito discusses the battle between Jamie Yager and Josh Bryant on this week’s episode, tells us about some of the house-related chaos that you didn’t get to see on the show, and reveals the annoying dude who keeps yelling "heeeeey!" during the fights.

Wednesday’s episode started with a continuation of last week’s news of Tito pulling out of the fight with Chuck. The only way Chuck wanted to give Tito an opportunity of being a coach on the show was if he was able to punch him in the face at the end. Now that wasn’t gonna happen and Chuck was pissed. I remember him saying from the first day that Tito was never going to fight him and he was only using the show for exposure. I don’t know about Tito’s intentions coming into the show but it turns out Chuck was right about the fight. Regardless of the medical reasons, which are obviously very serious.

I knew this episode would be special because everyone wanted to see what was going to happen in the Yager-Bryant fight. Yager’s been the guy with the cocky attitude and the big mouth, and everyone has wanted to see if he could back it up. Up to this point he’s done a good job of that, but Josh put a painful stop to that when he beat Yager into exhaustion and forced him to quit going into the third round.

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito discusses the challenge of fighting teammates, last night’s battles, and the Saul Soliz "fat fuck" incident.

With one quarterfinal fight down, we move right into the next matchup. This time it would be Noke vs. McCray, two guys in the house who were friends and training partners before the show. It was gonna be interesting to see how they would handle the situation. It no easy task to have to fight a friend, but with the stakes at hand the friendship would have to be temporarily put to the side so business could be handled. On top of that, the self-proclaimed gang "The Minority Report" was gonna have to deal with two of their street soldiers doing battle in the Octagon.

I knew when the show started that the possibility of fighting one or more of my teammates existed. I thought it would be an awkward situation since each of us would already know what our strengths and weaknesses were. After we got into the house it was only Charlie Blanchard and I left. When we both got picked by Chuck I knew the probability of fighting each other was greatly reduced, but still a possibility. I figured if we had ended up having to fight each other it would be no different then what we do in training every day, except a little more violent and it would count for a lot more then just macho points.

I always felt it’s necessary to have some degree of separation between myself and an opponent, and this wouldn’t change even if I did have to fight one of my teammates I was living with. For me it’s necessary to have some level of detachment from the guy I’m fighting so that I can get in the cage and do what’s needed to win, which could inevitably mean hurting the guy.

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito recaps the fights from last night’s episode, reveals Nick Ring’s house nickname, gives his thoughts on Court McGee, and reminds everyone how awful it is to be stuck in the TUF house when you’re out of the competition.

The Wild Card fight is under way and the match-up is Uscola-McCray. Right before their fight Kaycey got the good news that his son was born. Everybody knew how much Kaycey was anticipating the birth of his child since we got into the house. Now the moment had finally arrived, but there wasn’t much time for reflection because his fight with The Savage was looming. It was the first time we were gonna see two guys on the same team go at it and everyone was anticipating how it would play out. I personally felt like Kaycey would take this one. But I wondered if the birth of Kaycey’s child was going to be a distraction for him going in.

In the end, McCray walked away with the victory by submission early in round two. Kaycey hurt Kris’s knee early with some well-timed leg stomps, but he got overzealous and charged in, allowing Kris to lock him up and recover from the pain he was in. McCray’s got a pretty sick body lock and he put it on display in this fight, as he eventually used it to ground Kaycey and finish him off.

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito breaks down the Seth vs. Joe matchup from last night’s episode, his chess rivalry with Charles Blanchard, and his self-destructive method of coping with being sidelined. We hope you get into treatment soon, Rich…

After Court McGee and Nick Ring’s fight, we catch a glimpse of Nick’s emerging knee problem. How bad was it, only time will tell. But it definitely was a cause of concern for him. Especially when it gave out and brought him to the ground during training. At the time, no one on our team had any idea of Nick’s injury.

The last of the preliminary fights is announced: Seth Baczynski and Joe Henle will close out the first round of competition in the house. Seth definitely seemed like the favorite in this matchup due to his experience and well-rounded skills. I remember the fight him and Court had to get into the house being a war. Seth looked like The Terminator; he never stopped coming forward the entire fight like a machine. When Chris was forced to leave due to his broken jaw, I knew they were going to bring Seth back. He was the best guy out of all of the fighters that lost, and I knew Tito wanted to bring back a guy who would only strengthen his team.

Joe, nicknamed the Geico Caveman, had only started fighting six months earlier and was very new to MMA. He pulled out a late submission in his fight to get into the house, in which he was losing. Because of that Joe was perceived to be the weak link in the house. But perception can be deceiving. While he didn’t have some of the polished skills that a lot of the guys had, he had a ton of heart and potential. You could see him absorbing the techniques we learned daily and improving rapidly. Joe’s grappling is definitely his strength and we knew that if he could ground Seth and get on top, that he could definitely win. The Terminator versus The Caveman was certainly gonna be a fight to watch.

With Team Liddell up 4-1 on Team Ortiz, we start to see some doubt arising from Tito’s squad. Kyacey felt like Kris may have been over-trained leading up to his fight. McCray seemed to gas-out in the second and third rounds, which raised some concern. Kris’s wind may have failed him, but his toughness carried him through. I haven’t seen a guy take punches like that since Vinny the Chin, the Long Island legend from YouTube.

I remember over-training being a concern in my mind going into the show. If you run your body down too much and don’t give it enough recovery time, you’ll begin to physically break down and become more susceptible to injury. I knew that both coaches would push their teams hard, which is perfectly fine because that’s what we are there for. But the lack of time in between training sessions to rest and the intensity that had to be continuously maintained, day in and day out, was definitely a cause of concern for many people. Trusting the coaches and their methodology of training and experience was critical in this setting.

To combat the effects of hard training and soreness, at night when the practices were finished for the day, everyone would jump into the pool at the house. The pool was pretty much as cold as any ice bath you could take. It was so cold it would burn when you got in. It was tougher for some guys then for others. McCray and Tavares would swim around no problem like they were in an eighty degree pool at a country club. I remember one time Kris was doing the backstroke across the pool and spitting water out of his mouth. Brad would often dive off of the hot tub and into the pool doing can-openers, suicides, and cannonballs. It wouldn’t take long before the rest of the guys starting joining in.

The Wild Card speculations begin and everyone’s curious to see who the picks could possibly be. None of this had any impact on me anymore since I had a broken hand. I was going to have to sit by and watch the entire competition unfold in front of me and there was nothing I could do about it. I tried to remain positive and be as helpful to the guys on my team as I could. Mostly giving them some pointers with their wrestling, since that was what my background was in.

I spent a lot of time doing cardio and trying to exercise the rest of my body as best I could. I had to keep myself in as best of shape as possible so that eventually when my hand healed my transition back to training would be easier. Also, the only relief from the monotony of the house was when it was training time. Now I was barely even going to be afforded that luxury, as it was near impossible to do anything with my hand being as badly broken as it was.

Clayton was another member of the walking wounded in the house. After re-visiting the doctor he found out he was going to need shoulder surgery. I remember he didn’t want to get it done because he was still thinking about having a chance for a Wild Card spot. But after a little time he realized that his injury was severe and the only thing to do was go under the knife to get it fixed.

Could it be over this soon for TUF 11 contestant (and CagePotato guest-blogger) Rich Attonito? Richie Boom-Bats looked like a true ass-kicker in his round-of-16 match against Kyacey Uscola, until an illegal knee put an abrupt end to the fight. But instead of taking his DQ victory and sailing into the quarterfinals, Attonito wound up with his hand in a cast. Read on to find out what Attonito had to say about last night’s action-packed episode…

During the Tavares-Hammortree fight we catch a glimpse of Yager cheering Brad on against his own teammate. Afterward Nick pulls Yager aside and confronts him about cheering for the other team. Yager hears Nick out but I don’t think it mattered much to him as he seemed to have his own idea about whose team he’s on. That’s when we catch a four-way discussion between Yager, McCray, Noke, and Tavares about forming their own alliance called the Minority Report.

The rest of the guys on Team Ortiz didn’t take the situation lightly. Especially Kaycey Uscola who likened Yager to the S— on the bottom of his shoe. The bickering we saw in practice aside, this was something major that began to break the unity between some of the fighters on Tito’s team. I understand Yager is close with Brad but I didn’t think it was appropriate to cheer for the other team. If anything he should have sat quietly or cheered impartially just to encourage the fighters. Only one fighter is gonna win the contract so its definitely an individual sport, however, your team and training partners are whats going to help you get there. If this was the mafia, Yager would be getting whacked out for going against the family.

Shortly after the fights are picked and who’s up but yours truly. Chuck decides to send me in to take out one of Team Ortiz’s top picks in Kyacey Uscola. I think it surprised most of his team that we decided to go after him. Kyacey was the most experienced and seasoned fighter in the house and in my opinion one of the top guys. I was definitely going to be the underdog in most people’s eyes.

This poor, misunderstood Jamie Yager kid just can’t catch a break. During last week’s fight, he cheers for his buddy Brad Tavares, instead of his Team Punishment teammate James Hammortree, which just gives Nick "Blown-Out O-" Ring something else to be upset about. "You’re with us or against us…you need to support us, friendships aside," Nick says. "I hear what you’re saying, and I respect where you’re coming from," Yager says. But Ring doesn’t feel very heard or respected. He goes back to the house to bitch about Yager some more with his housemates.

Yager has his own crew — himself, Tavares, Kris McCray, and Kyle Noke — which he has dubbed "The Minority Report." Noke is not sure why he’s been included with the other multi-ethnic types, but he’s cool with it.

Anyway, this is one of those two-fight episodes, thank God, so we won’t have to suffer through too much girly-ass drama and house bullshit. Still in control, Chuck Liddell chooses his boy (and ours) Rich Attonito to go up against Kyacey Uscola. Uscola (18-15) is a skilled wrestler, and has had a long career that’s seen him lose to such notables as Chael Sonnen, Gegard Mousasi, Joey Villasenor, Mike Guymon, and Kyle Noke. He’s going to miss the birth of his child while being on the show.

Team Liddell fighter Rich Attonito returns again in the newest installment of his Cage Potato guest blog. Read on to find out what it’s like to have John Hackleman and Chuck Liddell whipping you into shape, and how a Jersey boy like Rich would have handled the beef between Jamie Yager and Nick Ring.

We were all called together for a big announcement and we waited patiently in the gym for the arrival of Dana, Chuck, and Tito. When I saw them make their way through the doors and towards us I knew that it was all business just by the way they were walking. I knew that something was up and by the looks of it, it didn’t look good. Tension in the air was thick. I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong but I started to rewind my brain to see if I could think of anything I might have done that would get me in trouble. I felt like I was back in high school for a second.

Then Dana asked Chris Camozzi to step forward and delivered the terrible news. Chris had broken his jaw and was no longer able to continue in the competition. He was going home. It was like everyone in the room got kicked in the balls all at once. I felt horrible for him. Chris was one of my favorite guys in the house and I was sad to see him go. He earned his way into the house through a hard fought victory. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to have the opportunity you earned right in front of you, and then see it vanish just like that. Watching Chris leave the gym only reinforced how fragile this opportunity can be and made me feel very fortunate to be in the position I was in. The only question now was who were they going to bring back to replace him?